The hosts of Pod Save America on Tuesday ripped into President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris for patting themselves on the back for being “good losers” to Donald Trump.
On Monday, Harris had the unenviable task of presiding over a joint session of Congress certifying her own election defeat. The 45-minute session was a stark contrast to the last presidential election certification on Jan. 6, 2021, when a mob of Trump’s supporters violently stormed the Capitol after their candidate claimed the election had been stolen from him.
Harris and Biden had sought to underscore that difference, with Harris posting a video message vowing to uphold her “sacred obligation” to certify her loss. Biden also published an op-ed Monday in The Washington Post calling on Americans to never forget the Jan. 6, 2021, riot. Neither mentioned Trump.
The Pod Save America hosts, who previously served as speechwriters for Barack Obama, said they appreciated Biden and Harris “modeling adult leadership” and respect for democracy. But they were fed up with Democrats congratulating themselves when they should have been highlighting Trump’s role in the attempted insurrection.
“We’re good losers! That’s what we are now,” host Jon Lovett said.
Co-host Jon Favreau pointed out there’s a way to accept the election results while also being honest about the situation.
“You could have easily said, ‘Donald Trump incited an insurrection and he tried to lie about it. He’s tried to rewrite history. He’s wrong. He’s unfit. The American people disagree with my assessment and other people’s assessment, but I don’t have to pretend that everything’s okay,’” he said. “Without sounding like, ‘Oh, pat myself on the back ’cause I’ve defended institutions.’”
“There is like an entire language that Democrats need to just f---ing throw in the trash about institutions, democracy, sacred this, blah blah blah,” Favreau continued.
Lovett particularly took issue with Biden’s failure to offer any real direction in his editorial.
“Here I am, remembering,” the Jan. 6 riot, he said. “There’s no next step for what you do to actually prevent an insurrection or to prevent an overthrow of our democracy. There’s no sense of agency. We’re just passengers.”
“Good luck for four years,” Favreau chimed in.
The message felt tone deaf to the millions of people who are angry and in despair about the fact that “most Americans used a free and fair election to say they’re okay with a president who tried to overturn a free and fair election,” he added.
“We all have to live with that.”
